The first person received an implant from Neuralink and is recovering well from surgery. According to Musk, the first data obtained on the operation of the device show promising results. Musk later added that Neuralink’s new device is called Telepathy. According to him, it gives the owner the ability to control a smartphone or computer using the power of thought and, first of all, is created for people who have lost the ability to use their limbs. “Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a typist or an auction host. That’s the goal,” Musk added.
In 2023, the American regulator FDA allowed Elon Musk’s company Neuralink to test neuroimplants in humans. Neural interfaces, or, as they used to say, brain-computer systems, are being developed by hundreds of companies all over the world, including in Russia. At the end of May, Elon Musk’s Neuralink received permission from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct such tests of its NCI Link.
A chip the size of a small coin is implanted into the skull by a high-precision surgical robot. Thousands of tiny threads connect the chip to neural circuits in the brain. Bluetooth supports communication with a computer. Neuralink claims that Link is capable of controlling prosthetic limbs, as well as revolutionizing the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and the effects of spinal cord injury. In addition, the development will be useful in the treatment of obesity, autism, depression, schizophrenia and a number of other ailments.
This project is the loudest, but not the only one and far from the first. Synchron’s endovascular BCI Stentrode has already been tested in patients with severe paralysis. The experiment lasted 12 months. All this time, the neuroimplant, which was inserted into the brains of four volunteers through blood vessels, successfully transmitted neural signals to the computer. Paraplegics operated a wheelchair, used email, created text messages, managed personal finances, made online purchases, and communicated with clinic staff.
Engineers from the American Science Corporation, together with ophthalmological scientists from Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California at San Francisco, created the Science Eye visual prosthesis based on BCI for patients with retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, two types of acquired blindness that cannot be cured. In such diseases, the light-sensitive cells in the back of the eye – photoreceptors – die, but the optic nerve is preserved. Science Eye combines gene therapy with a neuroimplant—a thin-film, ultra-dense microLED display panel inserted directly above the retina.
The data arriving there is converted into a signal that is optogenetically transmitted to the optic nerve. The frame of special glasses contains built-in binocular cameras, sensors, a processor, an infrared connection unit with an implant, and batteries. It is clear that the images generated by a visual prosthesis are very different from what people with normal vision see. But a person can estimate the size of the objects in front of him, the distance to them, and distinguish moving objects from stationary ones.
The BrainGate BCI, created by neurologists and neurosurgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital in collaboration with colleagues from seven US medical centers, has been tested for more than five years. The interface was tested on 14 patients with paralysis following spinal cord injury, brainstem stroke, motor neuron disease, or muscular dystrophy. The main element of BrainGate is a subcutaneous chip with an array of microelectrodes implanted in the primary motor cortex, which transmits signals from the brain to various auxiliary devices and a computer.
Researchers from the startup Onward, led by Grégoire Courtin from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, developed a complex BCI specifically for a 38-year-old patient paralyzed after a car accident. The first element, located on the head, deciphers brain signals that initiate movements and transmits them to the second – in the part of the spinal cord responsible for motor skills of the legs.
This “digital bridge” allows you to bypass the damaged cervical area. Thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms integrated into the BCI, the system learned to understand the neural signals associated with various muscle contractions, and the patient was able to independently stand up, walk, climb stairs and even overcome uneven terrain.
Thanks to electroencephalography (EEG), invented at the beginning of the twentieth century, scientists have discovered that neurons transmit information to each other by electrical impulses and have established the purpose of different areas of the cerebral cortex. In 1973, UCLA professor Jacques Vidal proposed the concept of a “neural computer interface” (NCI) and formulated the task of creating technologies that make it possible to transform mental intentions into real actions.
In most neural interfaces, information passes through four stages: receiving a brain signal from surface electrodes (non-invasive option) or an implanted chip (invasive option); preliminary signal processing and data transfer to a computer; interpretation and formation of digital commands; control of an execution device – a computer keyboard or mouse, a robotic prosthesis, a wheelchair, a car, and so on.
The first BCIs were tested on animals in the late 1990s. Using signals from neurons in the cat’s visual system, American neuroscientists have learned to recreate what the animals saw. In another experiment, transcribed brain activity data from monkeys was used to control a robotic arm. Later, by adding a feedback loop, this was used to restore mobility to paralyzed limbs through electrical muscle stimulation.
These days, new developments are reported constantly. First of all, we are talking about helping people with disabilities. For example, patients with spinal cord injury and paralysis of the limbs. Soon they will be able to “with the power of thought” control prostheses, control a wheelchair, and work with information in computers and smartphones. Brain chips are also being tested for those suffering from epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, blindness and other disorders.
Memory modification techniques could allow scientists to alter the content of memories by reconstructing past events. Currently, this method relies on the use of drugs, but in the future it may be possible to implant chips in the brain. While this can be helpful in the case of traumatized people, the practice can also distort a person’s sense of personal identity.
Currently, 50% of neurotech companies are located in the US, and 35% are in Europe and the UK. As neurotechnology could lead to a new generation of “superhumans,” it would further widen gaps in education, skills, wealth, and opportunity within and between countries, giving an unfair advantage to those with the most advanced technologies.